Goin’ Long, Goin’ Strong

             I like runs that start at Sandyport.  The parking lot there is big and open so there’s plenty of room for all of us to get together and get ready for the hash.  Plus, the way it’s set up there, the run can go in direction: further back into Sandyport with the shops and restaurants, across the street to the beach, west towards the residential roads and coastline, or east towards the heavily trafficked resort area.  The possibilities are over the top, I don’t know how a hare could make a choice.  Marisa knows though: don’t choose one, choose all.  She was our hare this week, our ambitious hare, our strong-legged hare (who sadly had hurt either her ankle or leg and was thus slightly hobbled), our hare who may or may not have been punishing us by running us ragged.

            The trail began with a three-way check-in at the Sandyport church and the proper trail went off towards the gas station.  We looped around past the Oyster Bar and Provence and started over a wooden footbridge – with Marco taking tickets at the turnstile – but we created a nice human traffic jam when we found the back-check sign.  We doubled back and made our way to the statue of Sandy for whom the Port was named.  Our first box was there and we all took a moment to ponder the statue before continuing north towards Bay Street. 

            After being lost a moment, Marisa drove up to us from the parking lot and pointed us westward where the trail continued over the bridge.  We followed the trail with trepidation as there was a very small amount of flour on the trail.  We caught a check-in just shot of Nesbitt’s and eventually caught the proper trail on the other side of the road heading back towards Delaport and the Poop Deck.  The trail led us onto a sandy path towards the beach but brought us, again, to a back-check.  After searching for a few moments we found the trail on Bay Street heading east on the north side.  The trail an straight past the beach entrance onto the narrow road shoulder where we found what?  Another back-check! 

            This time the trail was picked up heading south across Bay and back into Sandyport where it cut to our left and took us through some construction area where this group of hashers began to lag in energy.  After passing right near the start of the run it had seemed like this hash was coming to an end but no!  This hash was to continue!  We all ducked through a hole in chain link fence and came to a check-in near the Pizza Hut.  The trail led towards the back of the shopping complex where we found another box.  This one lasted longer than usual since the trail was beginning to grow long and as the sun set around us we waited and waited, only to find that some of our hashers were abandoning the pack.  Once this was ascertained we were able to follow the trail further into the island, ducking through half-built houses and fanning our way through fields looking for the flour that was very elusive in the tall weeds and grass.  Were it not for Marisa calling to us through the line of trees, I’m not sure we would have found our way through, but she did, like a vocal lighthouse beckoning.

            At this point, the sun had set even further and as the trail went back into undeveloped land it was growing more difficult to follow the flour.  But we kept it up and as we came to a set of check-ins, the trail doubled back and we came to a box back where we left the paved roads for those of dirt, sand, and rock.  The trail curved back towards the Supervalue and when we came across another check-in (one towards the start of the trail and one in the opposite direction), it seemed incredibly obvious that the correct trail would head towards Sandyport.  This incredibly obvious deduction would be wrong.

            The trail now curved back into some residential roads that ran parallel to Bay but we were heading in the wrong direction from where we wanted to be.  By now the sun had officially set and the flour was shining like phosphorescence on the ground.  We passed one block after another until finally coming upon a check-in with one trail heading further down the road and the other cutting north towards Bay.  There was no longer any anticipation of run length logic so either one could be the correct trail, but it turned out to be the one heading towards Bay.  Once there, the trail now went west and after a couple hundred feet it was with great joy that we discovered the On-In marker.  We gathered together our second wind and made it back to Sandyport. 

            So far as I can tell, this was easily the longest hash that I have been on and the general consensus seems to be that this was a very good hash.  We lost a couple hashers along the way but there seemed to be no complaints once we were all back in the circle.  The only complaint came when instead of serving him a beer, Dave served a Vita-Malt to Marco for a transgression that I do not remember.  Marco took only a sip and poured the remainder out onto the ground in overt disgust.  They tried to serve him another Vita-Malt and when he dumped this out as well, there was a cup of beer waiting to be thrown on him.  This was obviously not taken happily but nobody leaves the hash unhappy!  That pretty much ended the very long hash and that ends this very long write-up.  Adios, amigos!